Two months before the first total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States in a century, NASA on Wednesday is expected to detail its plans to study and promote a celestial show that will darken skies from Oregon to South Carolina.

During the Aug. 21 eclipse, the moon will pass between the sun and Earth, blocking the face of the sun and leaving only its outer atmosphere, or corona, visible in the sky.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration will discuss several solar physics and Earth science experiments to be conducted during the eclipse in a news conference on Wednesday afternoon. The agency also plans live broadcasts during the eclipse from dozens of locations along the path.

Total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth every year or so, but most cast their shadow over oceans or remote land. The last time a part of the contiguous U.S. saw a total eclipse was in 1979.

All of North America will experience a partial eclipse, though the difference between a full and partial eclipse is "literally the difference between night and day," said astronomer Rick Fienberg of the American Astronomical Society.

He noted that even a 99 percent eclipse will not reveal the sun's corona. And during a total eclipse, the temperature drops and the horizon is ringed by the colors of sunset.

"The sky gets deep twilight blue and bright stars and planets come out," Fienberg said. "Animals and birds behave strangely, like it's the end of the day."

More than 12 million Americans live in the path of the full eclipse, said astronomer Angela Speck, who heads the society's eclipse public outreach campaign.

The entire U.S. population, except for northern Maine, lives within 900 miles of the full eclipse's path.

Travel groups and many scientists will be heading to Oregon's northwest desert, which has the best odds of favorable weather for viewing, according to the website eclipsophile.com.

Experts caution that the only safe time to look at the sun without special eclipse glasses is during totality when the surface of the sun is completely blocked by the moon.

News in Pictures

Polar stratospheric clouds, also known as nacreous clouds (or mother of pearl, due to its iridescence), are clouds in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000-25,000 meters (49,000-82,000 ft). Usually the clouds only form over the poles during winter because the air in the upper stratosphere needs to be at least -78C.

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